Teachmint Valuation: Indian Edtech Startup Reaches $500 Million

A New Approach to Edtech in India: Teachmint Secures $78 Million

With a growing number of Indian edtech companies expanding their offerings of live and recorded courses to cater to students within the world’s second-largest internet market, several innovative firms are now exploring alternative strategies to overcome existing challenges.

Teachmint is one such company, facilitating the creation of virtual classrooms for teachers and institutions through a user-friendly smartphone application. This allows for the development of direct relationships with students. The startup has recently completed a Series B funding round, raising $78 million, as confirmed by TechCrunch.

Series B Funding and Valuation

Rocketship.vc and Vulcan Capital jointly led the latest investment round, the company announced on Monday. Sources familiar with the matter indicate that this new funding values the 16-month-old Indian edtech firm at $500 million. (To date, Teachmint has secured over $115 million in funding.)

Mihir Gupta, Teachmint’s co-founder and CEO, verified the funding amount via text message, but refrained from commenting on the valuation. Goodwater Capital, Epiq Capital, alongside existing investors Learn Capital, CM Ventures, Lightspeed India, and Better Capital, also participated in this round, he stated.

Acquisition Offer Declined

This new investment follows several months after Teachmint received an acquisition offer from one of India’s leading edtech companies, valued at $400 million, according to three individuals with knowledge of the situation. Teachmint ultimately decided to decline the offer. Mr. Gupta did not provide a comment on this matter.

Building the “Ed-Infra” for Indian Teachers

Launched shortly after the onset of the pandemic, the company is developing what it terms “ed-infra” – a technological infrastructure designed to empower teachers in India. This infrastructure enables online classes, virtual student engagement, task assignment, attendance tracking, and fee collection.

This model represents a departure from established edtech giants like Byju’s, Unacademy, and Vedantu, where teachers typically lack a direct connection with their students.

Significant User Growth and Market Potential

Teachmint’s approach is proving successful. The startup has already garnered over 10 million users throughout the country. Furthermore, it provides its ed-infra services to institutions, with over 4,000 schools and organizations in India and internationally currently utilizing the platform.

The potential of India’s online education market is substantial, encompassing over 200 million school-aged children. Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimate the market will generate $5 billion in revenue by 2025, a significant increase from approximately $1 billion last year.

Company Vision and Future Plans

“From the beginning, our focus has been on addressing the significant technology infrastructure gap within the education sector,” Gupta explained. “Over the past 16 months, we have been incredibly encouraged by the opportunity to provide the teaching and learning infrastructure for millions of teachers and students across India.”

“We are disrupting the adoption of technology in education at an unprecedented rate, supporting individual teachers, K-12 schools, coaching centers, universities, and even other edtech companies. We are excited to partner with Rocketship.vc and Vulcan Capital, alongside Goodwater Capital and Epiq Capital, and we are thankful for the continued support of our existing investors as we pursue our global vision.”

Investment Allocation and Employee Benefits

The newly acquired capital will be used to expand the team across product, technology, and design departments. Teachmint also plans to offer its employees a substantial stock buyback option in the near future.

Investor Confidence

“Teachmint has effectively addressed a previously unacknowledged technological challenge in the education sector and is well-positioned for global expansion,” stated Madhu Shalini Iyer, partner at Rocketship.vc. “Their strong leadership, coupled with their dedication to solving this problem, makes us confident in their success. We are pleased to be a part of this journey.”